Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter to His Family About His Imprisonment in Slaughterhouse Five
In the same way Vonnegut repeats “so it goes” in ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,' he repeats “but not me” in this letter.
In the same way Vonnegut repeats “so it goes” in ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,' he repeats “but not me” in this letter.
I once thought that it should be very hard to lose something as big as an airplane. When planes fly into deep water, high altitudes, ice, snow, jungle, or desert, it happens more often you'd think. Finding those planes many years later is a rare occurrenc
When I think of the last decade (starting in 2000), I think of it in comparison to previous decades. Being more or less a grownup, I can remember decades like the 80's and 90's quite well, and I've got some 70's in there too. But what about kids who wer
You might think that an airplane would be a pretty difficult object to lose, but there are still large areas of wilderness on our planet where planes can be hidden for decades. On rare occasions they are found again, against all odds. Over the weekend, I
Red Adair put out fires for a living. Oh, not just any fires, but burning oil and gas wells, fires that could have been fueled for decades and were expected to take years to extinguish with the best methods available. He was called out to fires all over t
Objectified airs on PBS stations in the US on Tuesday, November 24, as part of the Independent Lens series. I highly recommend that you set your DVR to record this film, if you're interested in: documentaries, computers, how things are made, how things
Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most powerful and meaningful speeches of all time—here are a few facts about it.
Here are four "perfect" communities that whizzed and sputtered thanks to human nature.
Since the dawn of time, people have found nifty ways to clean up after the bathroom act. But the idea of a commercial product designed solely to wipe one's bum? That started about 150 years ago, right here in the U.S.A.
You've definitely seen them: commemorative state plates featuring landmarks and slogans from a particular state. I call them "state plates," but the official term among collectors is "souvenir state plates." They're often displayed in kitchens, and the
Chiune Sugihara was born on January 1st, 1900, and lived to make his mark on the twentieth century. Thousands of people owe their lives in part to his willingness to buck authority. For his efforts, he was imprisoned by the Soviets and fired from his job
Long before modern industries developed the cleaning products, industrial solvents, and drugs that can kill when misused, people used simple plants to murder each other.
When a young writer and activist named Stetson Kennedy decided to expose the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, he looked to a certain superhero for inspiration.
Two weeks ago I wrote about The Story of Pi, a semi-educational retro video that visually explains Pi. One commenter (lynn) pointed out a song I hadn't heard before, The Pi Song by Antoni Chan and Ken Ferrier. I present it below for your weekend edutain
Update: the entire documentary is now available online for free! A new PBS* documentary, The Botany of Desire, premieres Wednesday night (tonight!) at 8pm on PBS stations throughout the US. It's based on the popular Michael Pollan book of the same name
There are more haunted places and scary stories around the world than you can shake a stick at. Here are a few you might not be familiar with already. The Haunted
The eight charter members of the American Football League are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the league's launch by wearing throwback uniforms for select NFL games this season. At various times before the AFL merged with the NFL in 1970, the Titans p
If you've been watching Mad Men lately, you've seen a fictionalized version of Conrad Hilton, the hotelier and great-grandfather of Paris Hilton. The "Connie" Hilton seen on Mad Men is quite eccentric (even loony at times), though the real-life character
On January 1, 1969, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger wrote artist M.C. Escher a letter asking Escher to provide an image for the Stones' second volume of greatest hits, entitled Through The Past Darkly. Jagger was a big Escher fan, and addressed the l
Get a load of the following nine insane torture techniques used in different parts of the world to kill, dismember, or otherwise cause inordinate amounts of pain. We promise: you'll never use the word torturous the same way again.
If you tuned in to Game 1 of the National League Championship Series last night, you were treated to spectacular aerial views of Dodger Stadium and greater Los Angeles courtesy of one of Goodyear's blimps. America's most recognizable airships, the tire an
In the early 20 century, a popular piece of art for the fashionable French home was "L'Inconnue de la Seine," a completely creepy death-mask of a young woman whose body had been pulled from the Seine River in Paris.
Ad slogans and taglines generally come to us in the form of a declaration. But seriously, what would you do for a Klondike bar?
Sergeant York has been called "the greatest soldier in history" for his exploits during World War I. But Alvin York never set out to become a soldier, and he never wanted to fight a war or kill anyone. In fact, what he considered his greatest accomplishm